Over on the SFWA.org site, I have up a column about managing a writing schedule while being the stay-at-home parent, as I was while Athena was an infant, toddler and pre-schooler (and still am, as it happens). It’s features five tips I used to make it work for me. If you’re a stay-at-home writer with a child at home, some of them might work for you, too.

Note: You can leave comments over on the SFWA site (I encourage it, in fact), but be aware the comments are moderated and there might be a bit of a delay before your comment is visible. Patience is a virtue.

The good news: Hey, look! I (represented by my name) am on the cover of the Official Stargate Magazine! Superimposed on Richard Dean Anderson’s head!

The bad news: It’s the last issue ever.

Clearly, I’ve killed yet another magazine. I’m sorry, man. I don’t know how this keeps happening.

And, Mr. Anderson: I do hope my name scrubs off eventually.

(image snurched from here)

Well, it’s been a busy day here at the Scalzi Compound, not the least because I’ve been kept busy with PR duties for Clash of the Geeks while still doing everything else I’m supposed to do with my day (writing, consulting on SG:U, fighting crime, tweezing the cats, etc). But it’s paid off pretty well; here’s a compendium of notices we’ve gotten today in the media.

Boing Boing

LA Times

Wired

Quill and Quire

io9.com

Publishers Weekly

And a very special mention to Neil Gaiman, who brought UnicornPegasusKitten.com to its knees with this Tweet, but then I turned on SuperCache and everything was groovy again, and Neil was awesome for sending people our way. And of course the CoG contributors did their part as well. And then finally, if you’re one of the people who blogged or tweeted (or retweeted, or made a Facebook post, and so on), please know that you are a Hero of the Revolution and your efforts are really very much appreciated. I would kiss you all, but considering how sick I’ve been recently that might not be the very best idea at the moment. Maybe a hug. A brief, friendly-but-not-too-clingy hug.

I’m happy to say we’ve raised several thousand dollars to this point (exact numbers are hard to pin down, they keep changing), but we’re hoping to do more and I’m hoping if you’ve not checked out the chapbook already, that you’ll still take the opportunity to download it, consider making a voluntary payment, and tell your friends about it. All that word of mouth makes a difference. Thanks again very much for it.

Unspeakably Awesome Art: Jeff Zugale

Yes, folks: It Is Here. Directly below you’ll find the short form of the announcement, which includes where to get it and how to help us fight the battle against lupus. After the short form, I’ll have some thoughts for you.

SHORT FORM:

Wil Wheaton, John Scalzi and Subterranean Press are proud to announce the publication of CLASH OF THE GEEKS, a special and fantastical electronic chapbook. It features stories by Wheaton, Scalzi, New York Times bestseller Patrick Rothfuss, Norton Award winner and Hugo Best Novel nominee Catherynne M. Valente, Hugo and Nebula Award nominee Rachel Swirsky, and others, and is for the benefit of the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America.

The chapbook is available in multiple DRM-free electronic formats at http://unicornpegasuskitten.com. It is free to download, but voluntary payment is strongly encouraged, via Paypal or by tax-deductible donation, with links to both provided at the unicornpegasuskitten.com Web site. All proceeds from this chapbook will go to the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America.

LONG FORM:

Holy crap, is this a great little chapbook.

I’m not just saying that. Look, like probably the rest of you, I figured that when the stories for this thing came in, they would be cute and silly, and that we’d all just bask in the glow of doing something useful, namely, raising money to help folks afflicted with lupus. But then the stories did come in, and, well, damn, y’all:

We’ve got an actual epic poem by Patrick Rothfuss. We’ve got a one act play by online gaming community legend Stephen Toulouse. We’ve got Wil having a ball playing with his own image (and mine). We’ve got a song, complete with notation, from John Anealio (listen to it here). We’ve got Cat Valente hitting one completely over the wall with her awesome. We’ve got a surprise special guest appearance by Rachel Swirsky, who submitted to the fanfic contest, and who I took out of contention because that’s just not fair for the other kids. And speaking of the fanfic contest, Bernadette Durbin and Scott Mattes’ pieces are going to just knock  you out. Oh, and yeah, I put a little something in there, too.

Seriously, people. This is great stuff. And the fact it is great stuff about the most ridiculous picture that has ever existed in the world just makes it that much more amazing. I really couldn’t wait to show it to you all. And now I don’t have to wait. Here it is. Go get it, and enjoy it, and have as much fun with it as we have, and tell all your friends about it as well.

No, really: TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT IT. We really really really want you to. We want as many people as possible to see it, because we’re proud as hell of these stories, and because we’re trying to do something good here for other people.

Which is the other thing.

You’ll notice that we’re offering Clash of the Geeks as a free download. You don’t have to pay for it, or make a donation to fight against lupus. And if you don’t, that’s fine. But if you can – if you’ve got the suggested minimum payment of $5 to spare — we would really like it if you did. All of the money that comes to us for this is going back out the door again, into the coffers of the Michigan/Indiana affiliate of the Lupus Alliance of America. We paid our writers and our artist, but we did that out of our own pockets. Wil, Subterranean Press and I aren’t seeing a cent from this. That’s not what this is about.

We did this thing because we thought it would be fun and because we thought you would have fun reading these stories. But we also did it because people we know and love and care about are afflicted with lupus. Lupus, if you don’t know, is not an easy disease to live with: it attacks your immune system and does all sorts of damage, and those who live with it genuinely do struggle. We’re doing this for fun, but we’re also doing this to help those people living with lupus, some of whom are family. It’s a personal thing.

Which is why, again: If you can pay, we hope you will pay. Our $5 suggested payment is not a lot for you, especially when you consider the sheer amount of awesome this chapbook contains. But if each of you chip in (and tell your friends about it, and they chip in, too), those $5 payments will add up pretty quickly. And then we’ll be doing some real good, as well having fun. We’ve made it to easy to pay through PayPal, but for those of you who would enjoy a tax deduction, we’ve also set up a way for you to get one of those as well. In both cases, just go over to the unicornpegasuskitten.com site and we’ll get you all set up.

And now I’ve blathered on long enough. Go and get this thing, and enjoy it. I know I did. I know you will, too.